The Computer Club Newsletter

July 2004

By Ron Uncapher

If you missed the club’s July meeting, you missed a very lively and entertaining presentation by Richard Katz, a Microsoft representative, who told us all about MSN’s homepage and all the things you can do with it. He describe some of the features of MSN Premium gave all meeting attendees a three month free trial offer to it, as well as giving away door prizes worth $1000. Some members went away very happy. The next meeting may not be as lively, but we will we will start with a short tutorial during the Beginner Basics session, beginning at 6:30 PM on Tuesday, August 3, 2004. The business meeting will feature a presentation by Victor de Groote of IncrediMail, an advanced, feature-rich email program that offers unprecedented interactive experience. Unique multimedia features enable you to tailor your email so that it fits your mood and personality. Visual and sound effects can be used to create entertaining and unique messages in every sense. The JunkFilter, IncrediMail’s special anti-spam solution, is seamlessly integrated into the program, to keep your Inbox 100% free of unwanted junk mail. That’s the way emailing should be - spam free!

Everyone who has visited the TVCUC Website this month, raise your hands! Hmmm, I thought so. Not very many hands. Well, I recommend that you visit the Website at least twice a month. Why? Well to begin with, you can read this article (under What’s New) as well as most past Computer Club articles in the Library Section. There is a subject index so you can refer to an article that you remember had an answer to a question way back, but you don’t have the article. The Library also contains articles (Documents) on various subjects, links to other computer clubs that have interesting and helpful information, our club meeting minutes, links to Village resources and more.

You will also find information on upcoming club meetings and other events as they occur. Names and positions of club officers are on another page. Finally, the Services page has a forum where you can ask questions on computers, answer questions that have been posted if you know the answer, and look at the questions and answers that have been posted recently. All good info! Just open your Internet browser and type www.TVCUC.org

I have occasionally heard from some of our members regarding the "highjacking" of their internet browser; that is, after opening Internet Explorer, instead of a familiar homepage, you get some other page. I ran across a good dissertation on how and what has happened to your browser and some suggestions for fixing it. Go to this Macon User Group site for more: http://www.maconusersgroup.org/hijacking.html

Have you ever had the need or desire to insert a non-standard character into a document? If you use Microsoft Word, there is an abundance of special characters and symbols at your fingertips. On Word’s menu bar, click on Insert and Symbol. A symbol window will open that contains hundreds of characters including special symbols, characters, foreign language alphabet letters and more. With your cursor at the desired position, find the symbol you want, point to it with your mouse arrow and double click on it or click on the Insert button at the bottom of the box. The following are just a few examples: (⅞ ® £ ¢ ).

If you use another word processor, it more than likely has a similar function. If it does not have a symbol function, there is an alternative. I found this on the above user group Website. It is a table of key strokes that give some of the same symbols as just described. A three or four digit number, used in conjunction with the ALT key produces a symbol. For example: ALT + 0135 produces ‡. (While holding down the ALT key, type 0135). Go to http://www.maconusersgroup.org/charmap.html  to find the chart. I’m sure it can be found elsewhere.

The Macon User Group website has a wealth of useful information; Tech Support, useful links, virus info, tips on using Google, and more. While you are at one of the above pages, explore the site. Just another fount of useful information you can find on the World Wide Web.

OK, now it’s time to update your anti virus software. See you at the next TVCUC meeting.